Hollow Phantom, by Danny Phantom and Jazz Specter
by Bastion Lightz
Summary: Danny Phantom returns in the third sequel to Darkness Phantom. The Heretic Gods are hunting down an angel, along with the ultimate tome he possesses. The only thing stopping them and the destruction of everything are Danny and his friends. Will the scythe be enough this time? And what is Desiree's connection to it all? Danny x Desiree
1. The First Darkness

_Hollow Phantom, Featuring Danny and Jazzy Phantom_

Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom. And due to my lawyers, aka reviewers, it has come to my attention to also say I do not own any property inspired/stolen from Marvel's Thor, Samurai Sentai Shinkenger, Mahou Sentai Magiranger, and Bleach.

Kei: Happy New Year, folks! We figured we start it with the first chapter of the third story in the Darkness Phantom Quardrilogy... wait, that's a word?!

Julia: Since Grammarly didn't check it, guess so.

Kei: Anyway, in this chapter, we will begin the final battle between Danny, Jazz, Tucker, Sam, Desiree, and Valerie(a lot of girls) against the Heretic Gods of Darkness. Everything we've worked on in Blackness Phantom will come to fruition here. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Hollow Phantom.

* * *

The First Darkness: Danny Phantom in Darkness Phantom

Amity Park; it's the safest place in the world. At least, that's what the billboards always say. In this world, it is literally the least safe among Earth's cities. Why?

"You're mine today, Phantom!" This is why. Amity Park is home to a large number of otherworldly monsters, ghosts really, far more than any other place in the world. Thankfully, it has protectors.

Flying over a hail of ice the size of minivans, a boy can be seen making his way towards his opponent. This ice using villain is a black specter adorning a crimson coat of arms on his chest with a golden lightning bolt going down it. He has a twister composed of his lower half, lightning bolts for hair, and dark red eyes.

He gives a loud gasp and fires a wave of heat from his hands. His target is the boy trying to stop him. He is a silver-haired teenager wearing a suit composed of black, the same shade of grey as his hair, and green balls on his person. His cape flows out exposing the DP on his chest.

The green orbs turn cyan in color as he extends his left hand, sweeping it across the air in front of him. From his palm releases a chilly mist, where several weapons solidify from the ice. Some of them are circular disks, axes, swords, spears, and arrows.

Raising his arms, the caped hero throws his arms out firing all his weapons forth at his opponent, the storm ghost being blitzed by the onslaught of his frozen arsenal that tears through him like snot through tissue paper. Gasping loudly, he's thrown back into a wall, his green DNA squishing out from behind him onto what he fell on.

Grunting, the ghost glares forth saying, "You miserable brat! I'll be sure to-" He stops, gasping at the sight in front of him.

The ghost boy stands with his left arm extended, a cylindrical object extending from his arm aimed at the specter. A white beam shoots out and hits the ghost, its power ensnaring and pulling him like a vacuum into its chambers. His screams follow and silence.

Finally finished, the boy checks his right arm for the time. "Time to go." Raising his hand, his ice powers rends through space opening a hole. He flies in through, his passing closing up the hole.

On the other side, he comes out to a living room, his home at Fenton Works. He smiles as he detaches the cylinder from his arm. "Well Vortex, it looks like you've been-"

"Seriously Danny, work on your jokes." He turns around to his friends sitting on the couch not far from where he is. They're a black kid with crusty lips and a red beret along with a yellow shirt over green cargo pants and brown boots. It's weird that he wears them too. His hair is kind of nappy too.

The other is a woman with black hair wrapped in a ponytail with pupilless violet eyes. She a black t-shirt with a violet circle on it and a black-green plaid skirt reminiscent of a kilt, with hiker boots on. "That didn't take long at all, did it?"

"Not at all Sam," he tells her while holding his hand out showing the case holding the villainous ghost. "Vortex is caught, and the damage is minimal. No sign of those Ghost Sheriffs either, Tuck."

"Danny!" Coming down the stairs… okay, that's a lie. Coming from the ceiling are two women holding hands with each other. The two become visible as the first person who spoke steps towards the younger ghost half. This girl with her orange kissed hair glares at him. "How dare you go off and fight a ghost without me? I thought we were a team!"

"I wanted to do it fast. Also, you still have a habit of sucking me into the Fenton Thermos."

"That was one time!"

"A week," says the other girl next to her, an ebony goddess of an adult with long, midnight hair and crystal blue eyes. "You've sucked him up at least once a week, Jasmine. Keep it up and Sam'll get jealous."

"Gross!" says Danny, Jazz, and Sam in unison. Tucker only snickers.

"But, it's only appropriate that I say this," she approaches him, "welcome back home." The older woman delivers a powerfully warm smile to the boy of her affections as he comes forth. So powerful it is, he smiles back at her ignoring what she said earlier.

Sam watches with a scowl as the two give each other warm looks. Biting her bottom lip, she steps over past Danny. Noticing her, he asks, "Sam, where are you going?"

"Home," is her cold reply.

Noticing her storming off, Tucker follows after the rich goth. The African asks, "What's wrong with you?"

"I'm sick of waiting." She turns back to her friend. "I'm going to get some answers. Since Danny's not going to speak about how he and Desiree really know each other, and I absolutely REFUSE to talk to her, there's only one guy in the universe who can tell me."

"Yeesh…" Tucker watches as she leaves for home.

Time Goes By…

Night falls over the skies of Amity Park. Outside of Fenton Works, Sam Manson can be seen tiptoeing inside the front door. She isn't really dressed for breaking and entering, which she's obviously doing, just wearing the same stock clothing one would always find her wearing.

After moving aside the doormat and picking up the key hidden underneath it, "Seriously, Mr. Fenton, get better security," she unlocks the front door and sneaks inside with the quiet grace of a ghost.

She continues until reaching the basement, where she finds the Specter Speeder just in front of the Ghost Portal. Staring at it for a moment, she scowls. "Damn it, Jazz. I wanted to get ghost powers too…" Sighing, she opens the portal and steps inside the machine.

Sam then turns on the speeder, and after a few seconds of charging up, jets into the purgatory known as the Ghost Zone. Her machine continues to fly through the dark skies heading towards a familiar section of the zone.

The speeder flies until passing into and through the construction just floating in space, a large clocktower battered by the sands of time. Inside, the door opens up allowing Sam to jump out. She turns to face the person she came to visit.

"Well well. You took longer than expected." The sole resident of the clock tower turns to face his guest, an elderly ghost wielding a time staff.

"Cut the monologue, Clockwork. You know why I'm here-"

"To learn the truth behind Desiree's feelings for Danny and the connection they share."

Of course, this angers her. "Don't do that."

"No." The goth pulls out a ray gun and aims at him. "Now how exactly will that work, considering I can stop time?"

Angered, she puts the gun away glaring at their world's representation of Father Time. Clockwork turns to the windows of time hanging over the top of them. "I might as well tell you, considering what it leads to later on."

A window shows Sam the first thing she needs to see. Here it shows the Observants coming to visit him. "It all began roughly a week after Danielle Phantom was injected with the Ecto-Dejecto and Valerie Gray discovered Vlad Plasmius' true identity."

"Wait, hold up! When did that happen?!"

"Focus," he replies, turning into a child. "The Observants came to me to discuss an inevitable problem, the rise of Revenant Plasmius."

"Wait, who?"

"Stop interrupting." His red eyes glare at her. After her apology, he continues. "Back when the Ghost King first broke free of his prison, he sought to steal the Darkness of Infinity, the Crown of Fire and Ring of Rage." He watches her raise a hand to respond, only to stop catching herself. "But after certain events, he had to postpone those plans to that day. Luring Danny into a trap he would force him to return home so he wouldn't notice he would steal the Artifacts of Darkness from Pariah Dark with the Fright Knight as his assistant. I took this opportunity to gift Danny with the item to fight off and destroy the crown and ring, the Darkness of Death known as the Doomsickle." He shows her images of Danny gaining the scythe and Dunames fusing it to his arm.

Sam looks down at the side of her eyes, thinking. 'Wait… when did this happen again?'

"The scythe's properties rejects ghosts and ends their afterlife. But, being half ghost he wasn't immune to its effects fully either." More images are revealed, with Danny reverting back to human while using the weapon. "The longer it stayed fused to him, the more it drained his life. Despite this, he managed to persevere and destroy the crown and ring, as well as the darkness of his future."

The windows show Sam Danny fighting alongside Danielle against Revenant Plasmius. The scythe slices through the crown and weakens Vlad back to his human state, and he then cuts the ring into black ectoplasm. Danny then can be seen fighting someone that utterly frightens Sam, Dan Phantom.

"Him?! But-"

"During this week, the Fright Knight set Dan Phantom free, and took action against Danny to ensure he is reborn stronger than before." Dan in the window takes hold of Desiree and uses her against Danny. "Danny, being unable to give her life up, fought back and extracted the time medal Dan fused into his chest."

Danny can be seen ripping the scythe out of his older self's chest and watches as his body disintegrates. "Without the medal, he couldn't exist in this timeline, and was vaporized to become one with the sands of time."

The next scene shows Danny fighting against Reina Dark, who extracts memories from his body. "With both of his problems over, all that was needed was to remove the scythe from his body. So, I let her handle that task. Because the Artifacts of Darkness are created with the time medals, they also exist outside of time and any changes in the past cannot undo their actions, except for the Doomsickle and the Soul Pen. That is why Reina went back in time and had Dunames remove the scythe from Danny thereby retrieving it."

Sam looks over at the window, surprised at everything she's seeing and learning. "So that's why I don't remember this; it never happened…" Now comes the real question. "Why does Desiree act this way around him?"

Clockwork then shows her images of Danny and Desiree bonding together, from the time he saved her life to their first real kiss concluding Dan's death. That dark look returns to Sam's eyes as she sees them kissing, before noticing Reina Dark stabbing Desiree.

"The Melibur contains the ability to copy memories. Using it, Reina went back in time to give the past Desiree her memories. She remembers everything that happened…" The windows then stop. "With that, I'm sure I've answered all but one of your questions."

Looking up, she glares at him angrily. "You damn right… why did you let this happen?!"

Now an adult, Clockwork smirks at her. "Figure it out."

"As if I could," she replies, her lips pursing down. "You know everything, and yet we know nothing about your motives! What do you-"

"I do what is best for the world at whole, and for the time being he is connected to it." Clockwork then turns to her. "Which is why you should probably head home. Make sure you wear your seatbelt."

Glaring at him, Sam reluctantly heads into the Specter Speeder and flies through the walls. Seeing her go, the ghost turns into an old man and says, "So nice to be able to come and go…"

With the hyper recycling vegan goth, Sam continues to fly through the olive skies of the Ghost Zone. That is until her vessel is snagged. Not having a seatbelt on, she goes flying face first into the glass and slides down into a state of unconsciousness.

What has caught the machine are an assortment of vines grabbing hold of the back of the machine. There an ominous specter looms overhead, as a feminine being stands in the background. "I don't understand; why help me?"

"A distraction worthy of bless. You and she together will make a fine mess, for Danny Phantom and his sister to dress."

"Huh?"

"Just possess her, Undergrowth!"

* * *

Yusei: And this chapter comes to an end. We'll have up the next one... indefinitely.

Takeshi: Question - why is it called a quardrilogy?

Kei: There are four stories: Darkness, Blackness, Hollow, and Metal.

Yusei: Metal?


	2. The Second Darkness

_Holy Phantom, Featuring Danny and Jazzy Phantom_

Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom.

* * *

 ** _The Second Darkness: Qlips_**

* * *

Out in the Ghost Zone, a green ghost can be seen wandering through the realm. It has gold Egyptian jewelry on his person and wears a white robe over his face. In his right hand he carries a tome.

He stops in place when a spear drops down in front of him. Calmly, the spirit looks with his pure white eyes up at his opposition. There descending from above is the Heretic Goddess of Death. She speaks, "Hello, Sojourn."

"Hel," he speaks with a calm apathetic tone.

"Oh, it's not just me." She snaps her fingers, and from around the spirit several beings appear into reality. As they appear, Hel speaks, "Hand it over, the Tome of Life."

"You know I cannot allow that," speaks Sojourn with a hand stretched out. Light forms around him.

The woman scuffs. "Very well. Show this angel hell."

…

"And with that, class is dismissed," says Lancer, finally releasing the students trapped inside his classroom forced to listen to his trite knowledge.

All the students get up and head off to their next class. Among them is the supernatural hero Danny Fenton, who looks across the halls containing the multitude of teenagers he's met on one occasion or another in hopes to pinpoint that one girl he's been friends with for years. Nothing comes of his fruitless scan.

"Where are you, Sam?" he says before heading to the bathroom.

"Hey, Danny," speaks his other friend Tucker. "Still no sign of Toni Snark?"

"Not at all," he replies. "She hasn't answered her phone either."

"Her parents are probably keeping her away from you again," is his friend's reasoning. "We'll go see her after class."

"Yeah." The ghost kid sighs with a shrug of his shoulders. With only one class left he can go straight to Sam's without any trouble. With the rise in ghost attacks, she could get caught in something messy. Then again, this IS Sam he's worried about; she is the same girl who has gotten him caught up in a large variety of mayhem ever since he gained ghost powers. Considering how lucky she gets, she should be fine.

However, things change after school.

After Class…

Free from classes once more, Danny and Tucker exit out of the doors into the shifting twilight that is slowly creeping up on the world from the skies. The two make their way to the park, passing by Dash giving someone a wedgie.

As they do, Tucker gives his ghost friend a look. "Yo, dude. Looks like Dash hasn't changed a bit."

"Didja think he would?" retorts the sixteen-year-old hero as he handwaves it mentally. "At this point, Dash is a minor nuisance in a cavalcade of crap I've been dumped into."

"Yeah." His African-American friend gives a chuckle. "Compared to the Box Ghost, he's about as lackadaisical as a kid who hates Christmas."

"Oddly specific… also, lackadaisical?"

"Word a day calendar you got me for my birthday."

"Oh, you're actually using it." Finally, at the park, they hide behind a tree. Danny then turns invisible and grabs his friend, also turning him see-through. The two then levitate away heading for Sam Manson's mansion.

Landing just in front of the door, Tucker becomes visible before he makes a knock. Danny keeps himself hidden and stages his person away from the steps.

Almost immediately, the doors fling open. There, Sam's mother and father can be found poking their heads out. Tucker clears his throat and speaks, "Good day, Mr. and Mrs. Man-"

"Where is she?!" the woman cries out.

"Where's who now?"

"Don't play dumb." The father approaches the boy, pointing his finger at her. "Or better yet, where's your friend? That Fenton menace? Where has he taken our little girl?!"

At this point, Tucker cannot properly process the information coming at him. So he says, "Okay, I think I'm missing some context here."

He grabs the boy's collar, shouting, "Our. Daughter. Is. MISSING!"

This piece of news causes both of the teens to flinch in shock. "We haven't seen her since she came home yesterday, after 'hanging' out with you two! We contacted the school; nothing! Where else could she be but with that wretched Fenton brat?!"

"Uh sir, I haven't actually seen Sam since yesterday either-" The mother gets in his face this time, disrupting his words.

"For your friend's sake, I hope she's not there. Or else," she tells him, before the two head out the house and into their fancy car.

Once they're gone, Tucker gives a sigh of relief now that his heart has returned to its proper place in his heart. "Danny?"

The ghost boy reappears beside him. "I checked inside. She's really not here." Now super worried, Danny checks his surroundings and goes ghost. As soon as the rings pass him, he takes flight, saying, "Go home. I'll find Sam," and makes his leave.

"W-Wait, Danny!" he shouts, but it's too late. If only he had waited an extra second, then Tucker could have told him what he remembers yesterday.

With Phantom…

Danny flies at high speed through the air making a beeline for his home Fenton Works. He enters through the walls and looks through the rooms.

Except for his father tinkering on an object that explodes in his face and Desiree reading a book – catching a glimpse, the title says Qli-something – in her room, the place is empty. The only thing out of the ordinary is the missing Specter Speeder, which becomes a possible clue in his head.

Coming up to his bedroom he cups his chin thinking about possible scenarios. 'Did she go into the-' But then, his ghost sense triggers. He looks around for the invading specter, which appears to be translucent at the moment. He follows the trail made by his blue breath outside, just at the corner adjacent to his home.

"Danny Phantom." The half-ghost stops in his place to look at where his name was called. Coming into appearance out of thin air is Princess Dorathea in her royal clothing while also adorning the cursed necklace of Aragon.

"Dora?" He turns his body to face her. Knowing that her appearance must have something to do with Sam's disappearance, a part of him lights with relief. The other part darkens at the thought of what her news will be about. Unlike her brother, he's on good terms with the dragon ghost. "What brings you to explore this part?"

"Huh?"

"Sorry, it's a joke."

"This is no joke…" says the ghost girl as she approaches him.

She's right; why did he say that? "Have you seen Sam?" he asks her.

"I have. She's been last seen in the ghost realm last night," she tells him.

"What? Why?"

"I don't know. I think she was heading to Clockwork's tower." Dora sighs as she picks back on what she knows. "All that's left is your family's metal flier."

"The Specter Speeder…" Danny mutters as he puts it together. Its absence is related to Sam's disappearance after all. Thinking about it, the only logical explanation that she's missing and the speeder has been found is that she was kidnapped. There's another possible solution, but he doesn't want to go to that conclusion. That morbid conclusion. "But why Sam? Why would anyone take her?"

"You mean besides the fact that she's a bitch?" He gives her the look. "What? You know it's true. I mean, I'm grateful for her help, but she can be kind of demanding for someone who never gets in trouble for her actions."

The dragon princess pushes that aside, as well as the air to add to the metaphor: "You've probably noticed the number of ghost attacks have increased since you fought against Reina Dark, correct?"

Crossing his arms together, he gives a nod to her. He didn't really think about it until now, but back when he first originally got his powers the attacks would be limited to around a week's length like new episodes to a new show. Now he seems to get in battles every day which seem to be the same as ever, like reruns.

"There's a reason for that." Dora sits against the wall. "When you defeated Reina Dark, you took away her right to rule purgatory. Once you become a full ghost, you'll have the privilege to command the dead." She then rolls her eyes and tilts her head, but more as a recollection than in childish sarcasm. "And after the last person who ruled undisputed caused unparalleled destruction, they're all afraid of history repeating itself."

"Pariah Dark got it." The boy nods again. That actually makes sense, and considering he's been kicking their butts WAY before the king of ghost first arrived, obviously, they have some animosity towards him.

Though when the implication hits him, he grows angry. "So, someone's kidnapped Sam and is planning on using her against me because they can't beat me on their own." The half-ghost grips his hands tightly into fists, his spiritual energy sparking.

"I gotta find her!" he shouts suddenly.

"You may wish to start in the Ghost Zone." She then gives a bow.

"Thanks for the info." Danny holds his hand open to form a portal. But just as he is about to, the ground starts to tremble. It then goes into a full-on earthquake so powerful the buildings around him leak dust. The two ghosts levitate to avoid losing their balance, going up higher to gain a greater scope of the area.

The two gasps at what they see; the landscape has become overrun with greenery. Vines are spreading every which way piercing through the normally sturdy concrete jungle as if the stone marble is nothing in comparison. People stumble about running away from the rising forest destroying their world of progress as in the center of the destruction, a large tree erupts and takes form.

"A tree…wait-" Before Danny could come to the conclusion this obviously brings up, he spots the ghost responsible for taking form over top of the tree.

"I HAVE RISEN!" shouts Undergrowth as he laughs stretching his arms out.

"… that's not his line," says Danny before glaring at him.

Dora glances at the boy and asks, "Are you going?"

"I don't know… I can't just ignore it, but Sam's missing… unless this is connected. But I doubt it's that simple."

"Where are you, phantom!? I will uproot you today!" speaks Undergrowth as he stretches his arm out.

"… well, no point in putting others' lives in danger." Danny draws his left arm outward, and from it extends the Doomsickle. As it shines in the orange sky, the boy turns to Dora, saying, "Thanks for helping me out with Sam."

"No problem, Daniel…" she says before watching him take his leave. A devious smirk appears across her face. "After all, if I'm in your good graces, maybe I can have you instead of Desiree."

Back to action, Danny flies toward the plant ghost with his scythe drawn, stretched out to his far left drawing white wisps of energy along its blade. His right-hand grips the chain shaft as he swings, a diagonal stream of cryogenic air released in its path. The frost forms over the plant life around him, its cold chill causing the vines and trees to solidify.

"What?!" Undergrowth makes a quick turn as soon as the chill hits him. The specter glares at the ghost boy as he floats in front of him. He grins. "Good of you to finally arrive."

"You say that like you set this up just for little ol' me." Without answering, Undergrowth releases a flurry of vines with sharpened edges and thorns at the phantom. Sighing, Danny flies just above their reach avoiding them, before gathering energy into his scythe. He then swings, extending the scythe while having the blade rotate into a buzzsaw wheel and causing it to slice through the vines. It quickly reaches Undergrowth and cuts into his body, slicing off pieces of his otherworldly flesh.

The scythe is then pulled back, cutting off the root connecting Undergrowth into the earth. Without it, he drops down while heavily bleeding ectoplasm.

Danny descends down below, keeping his eyes on the plant monster. He says, "Undergrowth, this is all pointless. I don't need to fight you seriously anymore."

The plant monster keeps himself up, reattaching a new root into the ground. "Nothing you just said was right." Undergrowth summons more flowers around him. "This is not at all pointless, and you will face me seriously. Or else you shall face her."

"Her?" From down below, a purple rose rises up. The flower plumes, its petals scattering away to reveal the truth inside. The boy's eyes widen in horror when he sees her; like before, Sam has been possessed by Undergrowth's brain plant, dressed in her queen clothing.

"Welcome back, Danny…" she tells him as she approaches him, vines lashing about behind her.

Elsewhere…

Desiree, back in Fenton Works, continues to read her book. As she does, she flinches when she hears some noise coming off behind her. She turns around quickly to face it. "Hello? Is someone there?"

Nothing. "Danny, you better not be spying again," she speaks. Though, it's not as serious as she makes it.

"Yeesh. Talk about a fetish." This time, she definitely heard that. She turns around again to face her guest.

"Zalam…"

"Hey there. I've come for that."

"For what?" With no answer, he thrusts his hand before her. The cocoa-skinned woman groans as a dark mist rises from her mouth. 'What? What's going on?!'

The darkness takes form, a light shining through that exonerates the shadows around it. The item reveals itself, a white pen. "That's…"

"The Soul Pen."

* * *

Kei: Well, that ends this chapter. You're probably wondering some things.

Yusei: I am.

Kei: Well, you can ask them in the comment section. Next time, witness it.

Yusei: I wanna know now.


	3. The Third Darkness

_Holy Phantom, Featuring Danny Phantom and Jazz Specter_

Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom.

Lightz: I hope you enjoy this. Consider this chapter a little more eventful, a gift before we disappear for 3 weeks.

 _ **The Third Darkness: Resurrection of K**_

* * *

Hel stares in shock at the scene before her. Her brethren, her comrades, her fellow Heretic Gods, have been defeated by this angel. They have fallen and dropped down to their feet. "The ones still alive…"

Sojourn turns his eyes to the goddess of death. "Is it your turn next?"

"Why are you all failing?!" Hel steps forward drawing a sword from her hand.

"So, you've come to pass on finally…" says Sojourn as he steps back. His right-hand summons an array of light.

One of the Heretic Gods makes a move, a large lamia lady who comes at him from above. Light shoots from Sojourn's hand and pierces through the snake woman. She cries out in horror as her body is filled with fissures of light and explodes. Her remains floating in the air as dust.

"One down, eight to…" The angel gives a quick glance to the others left there, and notes there are only six now. "Where are the other two?"

Hel scuffs at the mention of these individuals. "Rakto will never be mentioned… as for Zalam…"

At that moment, two lines form in the green colored void of reality. A cross portal opens up from the formation of the lines and a figure steps through. Into the Ghost Zone steps the black swordsman Zalam, along with Desiree gripped by her left arm.

Sojourn glares at the newcomer heretic with a squint in his eyes. "Zalam."

Zalam taps his sword on his shoulder before glaring at Sojourn. He then tosses the woman over. "Kya!" she shouts, before being caught by a sasquatch heretic. The behemoth holds her in a single hand while keeping his four eyes locked onto the girl. "Hey! Let go of me!" she screams as she struggles for freedom.

Sojourn gives the dark swordsman a look over and stretches a hand out to conjure spheres of light. A bit of sweat comes down his face. "It matters not how many of you come. I am more than capable of handling you lot."

These beams fire out at the black heretic. He draws his katana to his right side and slashes across before him. A line forms from the blade cutting along the fabric of reality. The beams, as soon as they near him, are drawn inward to the black line as if it were a vacuum. An action that shocks the angel.

"What?!"

Zalam makes another slash diagonally upward. A stream of darkness is sent to Sojourn, who raises his right hand to summon a circle made of light. Though upon impact, the darkness swallows the light. Zalam then moves forth and reaches Sojourn in a matter of seconds, his sword raised high over his head.

"If the light is your power, then this fight unfair," Hel speaks as Zalam slices clean through his body. A vertical spray of ectoplasmic sparks flies out. "No matter where the light goes, darkness is always there."

"Please stop rhyming," speaks one of the Heretic goddesses, a blue-haired woman with dark skin. She walks over to Sojourn while holding a bo staff, where she notes him clutching the book even while bleeding energy. With a twirl, she knocks the book out of his hands and catches it.

With what they want out of his hands, a Heretic God extends tendrils from behind him and wrap around Sojourn. He then throws him to Zalam, who cuts open a shadow to drop the angel inside of.

No longer threatened, the fallen deities gather around the black swordsman. The woman holding the tome gives Zalam a deep stare, her yellow eyes studying him as she says, "Good work appearing just in time, Zalam."

"All in a days work, Ralina." He reaches over and grabs the book from her. His finger brushes against hers as he pulls it away, walking to Desiree.

"What was that?" asks the former genie.

"Angels are susceptible to the abilities of demons, and vice-versa." He grins pointing at his horns. "And before I became a fallen, I was a demon. It was so much fun."

"Enough reminiscing." Hel approaches the black swordsman as he opens the book.

"What's this all about?" asks Desiree in a demanding tone. "You kidnapped me, pull a pen out of my body, all for a book?"

"This is no ordinary book." Ralina steps next to Zalam, keeping a sideways glance to him. "This is the Tome of Life. It holds the records of all living things, whether god or devil, angel or fallen, freshly born to reincarnation. It even holds the deaths of those to the Doomsickle."

Zalam then points to her stomach, poking Desiree: "That pen I attached to your soul is the Soul Pen, an Artifact of Darkness capable of altering this book's contents. Without it, this would be pointless, because the Soul Pen can overwrite the Doomsickle's victims."

Putting it together, Desiree realizes what's going on. This whole time, Zalam has been aiming to revive their boss. For them to go through such lengths means he must be incredibly dangerous.

Zalam pulls the pen from deep within the confines of her soul by phasing his hand through her stomach, holding it in his left hand. He prepares to write. 'Now, all my hard work will come together here. And no one is aware.'

Just as he prepares to write, the pen and book are both knocked out of his grasp. The bo staff held by Ralina is pointed at his throat. Surprised, he glares at her. Though he's pretty sure he knows why, which is why he asks, "Por ce?"

"You didn't think I wouldn't be able to know of your plans of betrayal?" Ralina says with a scowl.

The other gods turn to Zalam, with Hel holding a scythe to his throat. She then asks, "Are you certain?"

"As you know, Zalam," Ralina begins with a tap of her staff as she grabs the falling pen, "my fluids were used for the creation of the Melibur, as I am the Heretic Goddess of Memories. All I need is to touch someone to read their memories, and that's how I found out what you were just about to do."

At that, Zalam scuffs. One of the gods grabs the tome as she walks over to the now opened book. "So I'm caught in the act, eh?" The dark-skinned goddess proceeds to rewrite the contents of the book. Red lettering shines from the book as a result, which merges in with the pages.

Zalam takes this moment to draw his katana and knock away the scythe. He then jumps over and grabs Desiree, pulling the poor woman out of his associate's grasp, and slices open a hole to escape into with his travel guest.

"Stop him!" Ralina shouts, and the others prepare to make a move.

"No, leave him," Hel speaks this before giving a look down at the tome. "We've gotten what we've wanted."

The memory deity checks her pen, which disappears in slow-moving dust. "He can't use the pen without the book, and we can't use the pen without the girl. He'll come to us if he wants to get what he wants." Hel takes the book and closes it, as a shockwave of energy is released. A shadow looms overhead all of them.

Elsewhere…

Danny raises his scythe as he stares down Undergrowth fallen and bleeding, resting the weapon on his shoulder. He gloats, "I cannot tell you how easy it's gotten kicking your tails in."

Sam comes in from behind to attack. Noticing her, Danny swipes his scythe to the left and causes it to extend by the chain staff. The blade spins like a buzzsaw as the weapon curves, slicing off the vines attached to her with ease. He then pulls it back together as he turns around to face her, stretching his arm out to grab her.

Our half-ghost pulls her back in close as she falls unconscious, slowly descending to the sidewalk below. There he lays her on the ground and pats her face. "Sam? Sam, are you okay?"

His only response is a series of groans. "That's a good sign…"

"No… this can't be…" Undergrowth rises up with a groan, pushing himself to stand on a severed root. "I won't fall again. My future…my evolution…"

"Evolution?" Danny turns back around to face Undergrowth. There he fails to notice the remnants of the vines entering her soul. "What evolution?"

The tree ghost aims his red-eyes at Danny. "I will become the tree that structures the world. I will turn this entire world into my garden!"

"You're not making any sense!" he retorts with a scowl. "I mean, you never did, but now you're making less sense."

Before he could get a proper response, a blade pierces into reality. Danny's senses go off as he looks around, just in time to see it. The blade slices upward and a tear, in reality, opens up. From it steps out – to Danny's horror – the Heretic Gods. First comes out Hel, with Ralina following behind. After her is a goliath of a monster with flaming fur that previously manhandled Desiree, a small man with tendrils coming out of his back that wave independently but in a sort of rhythm, a ghastly armored knight dressed for Halloween with a centaur bottom, and finally a being in a black, raggedy cloak whose appearance is only visible through the clawed hands and the eyeballs plastered on its arms.

The six Heretic Gods come to the real world and stare down Danny Phantom. Sweat comes down his face as he holds his position, with Hel glancing over at Undergrowth. "This is the extent of your abilities, I see." She shakes her head in disappointment. "So much wasted potential in thee."

"He did his job, stalling," speaks the giant monster. His five eyes sneer down at the downed plant ghost.

"Danny!" The ghost boy turns around to see his sister coming over from through a wall. The two nod to each other before standing side by side. "Dad is on his way over. Mom's kind of missing though."

"Got it," Danny says before turning his eyes to the villains of the now. His mom has been going missing for a bit now. Where could she be? "Is this the part where you explain your plan to me and let me get the upper hand? Or the part where we exchange bars like this is a rap battle?"

"This is the part where you shut up," speaks the one in the cloak, "because we've already succeeded in our plan." A finger points skyward.

The ghost boy stares up at the skies, which have without even the slightest of warnings turns dark purple and cloudy. Storming lightning rains down from above, granting brief light to his area. The Heretic Gods take a knee as a spiral of white energy forms before them. Stones rise up from the ground below and take form, colored in by the white mist itself.

Coming into existence is a blood red being covered head to toe in purple and blue tentacles that stretch out in all directions. He stands at a colossal 8 feet tall, with eight, yellow eyes peering from underneath the vines on his head. His skull contains horns surrounding the scalp that form into a crown.

He steps forward, each foot to the ground causing the Earth itself to shake. Danny steps back as he approaches, his heart faltering the closer this monster gets to him. He comes by Danny and then passes by him in ignorance. " _ **The human world. It's been a while.**_ "

Reaching the nearest building, Karas pauses when he feels something off about his body. His right arm from the shoulder turns gray and husky. From where the others kneel, Hel speaks: "My Virud, you leave this realm's dusk. The drainage will turn you to a husk."

" _ **I'll leave after taking what I need.**_ "

Danny breaks free of his fear. 'I can't just stand by and do nothing.' He then turns around and jets to Karas. Green energy forms around his scythe as he comes down at the titanic god with his ghost killing weapon. It strikes his shoulder, with only a cling and a dispersion of its energy.

" _ **Danny Phantom.**_ " Karas turns his head to face the teenager who struck him. The ghost boy stares with the widest eyes at how fruitless his strike is revealed to be. " _ **You are the newest wielder of the Doomsickle. A human, yet you possess ghost abilities…**_ "

Danny flies back as Karas' body turns with his head. The white-haired child thrusts his hand and fires a white ectoblast. It hits dead on and compresses the villain in ice slowly. Ice that breaks away as he storms forward with powerful force. From his right arm, a blade shoots out and grows before extending longer. This sword is a double-edged crimson longsword with three faces as its hilt – all three frowning – and golden edges.

It scratches along the ground as he raises it, shouting, " _ **YOU DARE STRIKE ME,**_ _ **HUMAN,**_ " and brings the sword down diagonally. Danny immediately raises his scythe as well as a shield. Like glass, the shield shatters apart upon collision with the blade as it continues downward and slices through both the Doomsickle and Danny's body.

"GUH!" His body flips about from the slash before he stumbles back on his feet and drops his scythe. His black essence spills out like a squashed tomato and he drops down falling on his back. He reverts back to his human self, the wound made on his ghost self appearing but now smaller.

"DANNY!" Jazz screams as she flies down to help her little brother. As she reaches for him, a serrated disk flies at her. Jazz raises her hands to form a shield of red energy to block, the disk slicing in like a buzzsaw before being flung back in the air. She then places a hand out to capture it and throw it out back at the goddess who threw it.

Hel grabs the disk and snaps it with her grip. "Begone, little child. Your attacks, like chilly mild, hold no sting. So death I shall bring." She draws a scythe from her hand and walks forth.

" _ **Hel, hold yourself,**_ " Karas speaks as he moves to Danny. He grabs hold of the boy by his hair and lifts him.

"Let go of my brother!" Jazz throws another red ghost ball at him, to which he tanks without flinching. The girl then presses her hands together and forms a massive wave of her psionic energy to spread across her area. She then throws it forward, though the being in the cloak thrusts a palm outward, erecting a barrier that blocks her own psionic energy. "What?!"

"You're not the only one with psychic powers," says this person.

Hel comes down from above with a spear and throws it, narrowly missing Jazz yet slicing the side of her waist. She then storms forth, pointing a new blade to Jazz's throat.

With Karas, he continues to hold Danny like a broken doll. "This is the most you can muster? You'll die before I show you your worst nightmares."

"How about I show you me going ghost?!" Danny transforms, turning into his ghost form and breaking free of his muscular grip. The hero then holds his hand up as stars appear overhead. "Darkest Plasma!"

He throws down his hands, causing the energy attack to fall upon Karas. The plasma explodes upon impact, but as the dust settles, the god of gods still stands.

" _ **Did YOU really think that would work on God?!**_ "

He moves at an inhuman speed towards Danny, raising his sword to slice him again. In reaction, Danny slaps his hand on the eyepiece of the scythe. "Time Out!"

Time stops for all in the vicinity. Danny takes this time to charge his scythe to attack, but then it happened. The one thing he feared to happen in this situation has happened.

" _ **That doesn't work on me,**_ _ **either!**_ " Karas moves despite time stopping, and with his mighty sword, easily slices Danny. He goes flying before rolling on the ground. His body reverts back to his human self.

As the half-ghost protagonist groans in defeat, his body is lifted up by itself. Karas steps forward approaching the ghost boy. His pointed fingers extend out and stab into Danny's chest with a single thrust of his hand. Phasing through him, he pulls back removing the half ghost's ghost half.

" _ **I have all that I need from you.**_ " He holds Danny's ghost half over in his hand, as the phantom cries out in pain as he's being slowly compressed into the size of a sphere. " _ **Now, return to being the weak mortal you have always been.**_ "

* * *

Kei: Finished. Next chapter, the aftermath. We'll also set up some matches for the future chapters.

Yusei: Who exactly are the Heretic Gods?

Kei: Oh, right. Better give them explanations:

Hel - Leader of the Heretic Gods, the Goddess of Death, summons weapons that can negate a spirit's regeneration and kill them, currently possessing Maddie Fenton

Zalam - Heretic God of Darkness, can bend gravity and space, only heretic that lacks a human body

Huo - Heretic God of Fire, giant body, can eat anything to fuel his infinite rage

Ralina - Heretic Goddess of Memories, most human looking

Amaras - Heretic God of Weather, lamia, dead

? - Heretic God of Pleasures, tentacled being, can touch and reject anything on Earth

Meahana - Heretic God of Creation, Centaurian knight

? - Heretic God of Wisdom, cloaked being, refers to itself in third person


	4. The Fourth Darkness

_Hollow Phantom, Featuring Danny Phantom and Jazz Specter_

Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom.

Lucas: Welcome back to another installment of Hollow Phantom. Sorry for the wait, but we only recently composed the draft for the story's ending.

 ** _The Fourth Darkness: Apoqulith_**

* * *

Danny drops down on his back painfully. He groans looking up at the monolithic monster who ripped away his powers, holding it in the palm of its hands like a fragile glass of power. " **Danny Phanto** **m, to think a human such as yourself can control the powers of the Heretic so easily.** **IT. IS. DISGRACEFUL.** "

Karas storms away with the power he's stolen, his body beginning to dry further than it has before. " **Now, prepare for the World Tree.** " He stretches his free arm over to Undergrowth, levitating the tree ghost and dragging him along. The ruler of the Heretics opens a gateway and enters through, a gateway that closes up after his exit.

Hel watches as her master leaves this realm before her eyes turn over to the human left behind. She places her sword to his neck, the boy unable to skimmer away. "In order to make sure our plans succeed, your death is a necessity. So, Huo…"

"Finally! I get to eat!" The burning behemoth storms over to the little boy, each step causing a mini tremor to form. The monster thrusts his hand down to crush the boy.

Jazz flies down before her little brother to turn herself and him invisible, effectively dodging his hairy hands that crush into the pavement. He growls, "Where did they go?!"

Hel looms her sight over across the scene and moves her body forward at the speed of a bullet to the air high above the buildings. She draws a scythe and swings downward, ripping off green ooze as she does. She then watches as Jazz and Danny come back into reality, falling on top of a building.

Hel turns over to the rest. "All of you, go and collect the resource. Huo, you and I will finish these two off."

The other heretics take their exit, leaving Huo and Hel left. "Good! I've been meaning to feast!"

The Goliath roars as fire billows out from his fur. It rises up to his crown-like scalp, igniting it in a mirage of green blaze. He then roars, shooting out a molten ball of fire at Danny and Jazz.

As he scampers back, Jazz raises her hands to summon the scarlet energy around her and her brother in a sphere. Upon impact with his blast, the sphere shrinks. "Dang. This fire monkey is stronger than he looks!"

"Fire monkey?!" Angered, Huo slams his fists down onto the sphere, straining the girl further. His fists proceed to slam into the barrier, as he bellows, "You don't know who I am, do you?!"

"Huo, cease your senseless rage and finish Phantom's final page. His book's end has come to age." The goddess of death steps aside, watching her giant subordinate go to work.

He ceases his assault to glare at her. "Hold your tongue, Hel! The source of my power is my rage, as you know!" He turns back to finish the job but gets shot in the face by a lime bullet. Huo grasps his face when it hits, a tiny trickle of blood dripping from his forehead. "Who dares?!"

The dark goddess raises her head as she spots the newcomer on their way over, as do Jazz and Danny. She spots the crimson Ghost Sheriff Vector coming down at the heretics, firing from her pistol at them. Hel raises her scythe to spin it, blocking the bullets that would have hit.

The red metal hero surfs with her hoverboard right above the siblings in a protective stance, her back facing them. "Danny! Jazz! Get out of here!" Vector shouts as she reloads her pistol.

"Don't have to tell me twice, or at all." Jazz flies down to enter Sam's body, moving as her now. She then grabs her brother once more, taking flight over the skies using her psionic powers to maximize her speed.

An annoyed scowl spreads across the goddess' face, developing more wrinkles along her face. "Your job is to devastate that vector. I'll put an end to that fleeing specter." She takes flight giving chase to the siblings, her scythe poised to take her life.

"Get back here!" Vector shoots at Hel, each and every last one of her bullets striking Huo's arm held out to block them the moment he jumps over and lands between them. "Get out of the way!"

Huo raises his arm and waves it. "That tickles." Without warning, his mouth quickly stretches open. From it, a blast of flames shoots out in the shape of a ball.

Seeing it coming, Vector ascends herself and dodges the blast, the ground behind her having been turned into an incandescent crash site. Vector reloads her gun and takes aim, energy spiking from within itself as it turns bright green. She then fires her charged shot.

…

Hel soon catches up with Jazz-Sam and Danny, appearing right above her. "Death awaits you!" she shouts before swinging down to slice her in half.

Danny pushes Jazz aside, allowing her to dodge the curved blade. Unfortunately, he takes the full slash, causing his sis to scream at the apparent death of her brother. "DANNY!" She fires her scarlet energy out at Hel, hitting Hel full in the face with tremendous force.

The exasperated sister flies over at her brother, grabbing him before he could hit the ground. Though as they land, she takes a good look over him and notices that he's still in one piece. "Wait, why aren't you dead?"

"How nice of you."

"No, that scythe went straight through you. Why did nothing happen?!"

"I don't know really. But, I have a theory…" Danny raises his hand. "All those Artifacts of Darkness were made of black ectoplasm, just like Clockwork said. But only one of those Fallen has that kind of juice in them. So, the Doomsickle that the big guy took must have come from her."

"… and?"

"Oh, you didn't know? It only-" He stops when he hears Hel rise up from her fallen place. She holds her face, damaged by Jazz's desperate blast to save her brother. Short hair with the color of sun kissing a tangerine and a bright violet eye revealed on the portion damaged and peeled away like the wrapper on a damaged piece of chocolate, the siblings gasp when they recognize the woman underneath Hel's veil.

"Mom?!" they shout in unison.

"Danny! Jazz! Get out of here! Forget about me!" shouts Hel in Maddie's voice, or just Maddie through Hel's lips. She grasps her exposed face dropping to a knee.

"So that's why she's been disappearing…" Danny realizes. "Let my mom go!"

Hel's skin reforms over Maddie's face, as she glares at them. "I guess I'll have to come after you another time."

"Why do you have our mom!?"

"A body," Hel speaks as she stands. "Heretics do not belong in this reality. Without red ectoplasm, time will tell our finality. Also, your mother gives you to me civility."

"How donnish she is," says Jazz with a scowl.

"Once the World Tree is fully spread, I won't need this dud. We'll have all that we need from the tree shall it bud after we feed it red ectoplasm, which to you humans is called blood." Hel disappears, fading away.

"Wait!" Jazz shouts, but it's too late. The goddess of death is gone, along with their mother. But, her eyes are horrified for a brand new reason. When it hits her, she turns to her brother and asks, "Did she say they have to feed something blood?"

Danny looks at his sister, also terrified by the implications. "… like Audrey II."

Back with Vector, she draws her blade from her belt. With a mighty yell, she slashes, cutting off the fire beast's crown horns. Black ooze squirts from where he was wounded, before slowly crusting over and drying up.

Dark red overshadows his eyes as the rage hits him. "You insolent human!" He stretches his arm out to grab her, a pointless move as with her maneuverability on that board she easily avoids his attack. Vector draws her pistol and shoots, sniping one of his many eyes seven times before flying at a higher altitude.

"You think you have the advantage, but you're wrong!" Flames proceed to billow from his thick fur, so much heat coming off that his flames have all but replaced his fur. His many eyes glow green as he roars and after, the monster now in a whole new form.

"What…"

Before Vector could prepare herself, Huo moves at an ungodly speed and appears before her, frightening the girl and taking her off guard. His left fist moves in and slams her body with the force and weight of a wrecking ball. Parts of her armor break away from that solid impact, especially from her helmet. Vector flies far off her machine, crashing into the side of a building and indenting into it before falling off face forward into the pavement. His armor sparks as it shuts down, reverting Vector back into Valerie Gray.

"Ugh…" Valerie looks up at the flaming behemoth.

"That'll learn ya." Huo disperses his fire form and bends to a knee down before Valerie, eyeing her. "I could eat you, but then I wouldn't have a body to live in this wretched reality."

"A body?"

"We can't last in the real world," he tells her, pointing at his crown that proceeds to dry up. "I'll be taking that body of yours for my own."

He forms flames around himself and prepares to consume her with it. Valerie, powerless and weakened, could only brace for it to come.

"Wait!" Both parties stop to glance at a white car coming up, epithet GiW. From it steps Damon Gray. "Please, let her go!"

Her heart stops at the sight of her father in the danger zone. "Dad! Get out of here!"

"Hmm…" Huo glances at him for a second, before looking back at the girl. Once his gaze returns to the father he sniffs, grinning as a result. "So, is this your daughter?"

"Yes…" he speaks without hesitating.

"Tell you what…" Huo stomps over before Damon, his footstep causing the car to bounce. "I'll spare your daughter, but instead, you will take her place."

"What?!" Valerie shouts in shock.

Damon looks between her and the giant monster. He gulps, saying, "Bring it, bigfoot."

"Accepted!" Flames return to replace his fur, and Huo roars as he falls face forward onto Damon. The impact turns the beast into a wildfire and the father cries out in pain as it sweeps him, spreading across every boil now forming on his body mercilessly.

"DAD!" Her screams fall on death ears as the fire merges into his body, healing away every burn damage that would have been left by his transmutation. Damon's head gains an ethereal green crown, as a ring forms on his left middle finger and his eyes turn black. "Daddy?"

"Sorry, but daddy isn't home anymore."

Valerie draws her gun and aims. "Go ahead. Shoot your daddy little girl." She holds her gun aiming it at the possessed man, unable to hold it still like a shaky cam. Huo laughs, before propelling himself cartoonishly in the air with an explosion of fire.

The dark-skinned hunter plops down face forward, tears in her eyes as she takes in her failure. And screams.

…

Down at the very depths of the Ghost Zone, Karas can be found with Undergrowth. The flagrant skeletons of ghosts hide as the two proceed to descend. The god-like being finally feels the solid floor and bellows a laugh.

" **We've made it to the bottom**." Karas holds forth the ghost essence of Danny Phantom and sends it to Undergrowth having it merge within his being.

The plant ghost feels the power flowing through his body, laughing maniacally as his form alters. "I can feel it. This is the power of the Heretic gods!"

" **Now, spread your roots through the other world and connect the realms together permanently. BECOME THE QUOLITH!** "

"That's a terrible name." Undergrowth roars as he is transformed, turning into humongous tree roots. Karas vanishes as the roots spread, stretching up from the depths of the Ghost Zone.

The skeletal ghosts from before seeing the events play out, and flee. The roots rise up and pass through reality, breaking the fabric of what is real and there to pass into the real world. Once they reach Earth, the essence of the tree pierce from the ground and spread across Amity Park.

Jazz and Danny reach Fenton Works just in time to see their father loading up the Fenton RV. He spots his son with who he believes to be Sam and asks, "Kids, what's going on?!"

"We gotta leave!"

* * *

Luna: Next chapter, we'll... actually, that's going to be a secret.


	5. The Fifth Darkness

_Hollow Phantom, Featuring Danny Phantom and Jazz Specter_

Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom.

Kei: Welcome to another chapter of Hollow Phantom.

Yusei: Wish we got more reviews.

Kei: Shut up. That's not why we became writers! Anyway, in this chapter, we continue what happened in 4. Enjoy it now!

 ** _The Fifth Darkness: Inveigle_**

* * *

Amity Park, the safest place in the world; these words are written on a sign resides just on the outskirts of a town, a town overrun with destruction. Cars have crashed into walls, each other, and the ground, a newspaper flies in the air across a black field of grass, and no sound can be heard except for the whistling in the wind. There are gargantuan red vines spread throughout the concrete jungle, wrapped onto buildings and inside many of them. Skies overhead are completely black and red.

Vice-Principal of Casper High Lancer can be seen running down a road heading for the already-mentioned sign. His clothes are in tatters as he beats feet in desperate heat. He smashes into a wall painfully, stopping short in front of absolutely nothing. He smashes his fists on the wall shouting, "What in the name of the Last Town on Earth is this?!"

He looks around down below to his horror at the dried-up husks of bodies crawling at the invisible wall. His eyes then glance up further ahead, seeing a series of men dressed in shiny white clothes and shades wielding guns. "Hey! Let me out!"

Ignored. No matter what he says, they remain silent to his pleas, even as noise goes off behind him. The overweight teacher spots humanoid monsters with red coral patterns over their bodies and a big gaping mouth filled with razor-sharp teeth for heads. Each screams, "Nah," as they rush Lancer.

"By Day of the Dead! Wait, that's not a novel-AH!" The nameless things attack, biting and gnawing at his person and slowly turning him into a shriveled up prune of a corpse. "CHOKE ON THEM!"

Elsewhere in this world of death, a cornucopia of humans can be heard screaming as they run for their lives. More of the nameless monsters chase after them with incredible thirst.

"Chi!" the monsters shout out as they chase the humans.

A beam of energy shoots out and blasts one of their heads off, the monster dropping and exploding into black dust. The shooter is Danny Fenton, dressed in the Fenton Peeler MKII, which is just a rebuilt stronger version of the original one.

"Everyone, inside!" he shouts to everyone as he gestures to the school building behind him. Beams continue to spray at the monsters approaching to allow the helpless to flee with ease.

Just as the last of them get inside, Danny quickly turns around to get inside. But the boy barely gets one foot in before he's quickly dragged out by an invisible force. He quickly turns around and spots the Heretic God of Wisdom, the cloaked being with eyes plastered over its arms.

"Danny Fenton," speaks the specter in a hollowing voice. "You have interfered with the Heretic Gods' business for the last time."

"Well, excuse me, but from what I remember, people need blood to live!" The Heretic raises its hand, lifting Danny in the air through its telekinesis. A finger clench brings his armor to crack. "Jazz, now!"

The specter is knocked to the ground by a giant boulder of debris held together by scarlet energy. It hits the ground taking a knee as the debris gathers around the being, turning the head upward at Jazz Specter floating up above. She declares, "Don't bully my baby brother."

"Ah, the ghost girl." The heretic raises a hand, to which Jazz responds by doing the same. "Oh… So your powers are finally strong enough to resist Shalfe's."

The half-ghost keeps her hand steady using the other. Sweat pours down her face with the strain of fighting back. "But, you can only improve so much in a month."

The longer this psychological battle is going, the more her scarlet power disappears. She clenches her teeth as her power quickly disperses. No other option, the girl lifts her left index finger; this action destroys the debris from the boulder earlier that now surrounds Shalfe, summoning a cloud of dust around them.

"Do you think blinding Shalfe's eyes will stop Shalfe from capturing you?" The heretic raises both hands, destroying the scarlet energy and capturing Jazz finally. She cries out in pain as her arms are draped out, left helpless to her enemy's power. "But speaking of which, Shalfe's eyes are a collection from many enucleated spirits. Would you like to be next?"

"Would you?" Shalfe turns around quickly the minute a wind tunnel pulls at it. The heretic spots Danny using the Fenton Xtractor. Shalfe stands ground, slowly ripping off of a figure being surrounded.

Jazz breaks free and stares down the person that was just freed: "Danny, you were right! We've found Freakshow!"

Yes; just as she said, the person possessed is in truth Freakshow. Danny continues to leave the vacuum on to fully rip the Heretic away. "About time we got lucky."

"You ignorant children!" The villain turns hands to the vacuum, its psychic powers causing the machine to short circuit and explode.

Not leaving an inch of response, Danny fires the beam from the peeler's gauntlet, its emerald ecto-energy blocked by an invisible wall. Shalfe stares down at its arms, which slowly begin to crust over. "Out of blood? Already?!"

"Looks like someone needs some lotion!"

"Shalfe's going to kill you two, someday!" The Heretic pushes back at the beam enough to slip away, retreating into a glowing red hole in a crevice underground.

Their enemy is gone, the siblings breathe a sigh of relief. Freakshow raises his head checking his surroundings. "I'm alive. I'm free. I have both my hands! YES!" Arms go up along with his joy. "Everything's coming up Freakshow!"

A beam of energy lassos his wrists, courtesy of the half-ghost Jazz Specter. A light pull yanks him to his knees as Danny approaches the freak. "Alright, freak, we've been spending the last month looking for you, and now you're coming with us!"

"And why the hell would I do that?" asks the adult with a sneer on his face. The boy points to his sister, whose eyes degrade into a dark cerulean shade. "Shut up."

Jazz then grabs the two and flies into the school building, passing through with them. Midflight, the girl and her brother looks down at the people held up in the gymnasium being helped by several people – including Sam, Tucker, Paulina, Dash of all people if you can believe that, Jeremy Manson, Pamela Manson, and even Star.

Jazz flies through the walls and makes it to the principal's office. She drops Freakshow on the lounge chair and lets Danny down easily. "Dad, we got him!"

Their overweight father sits up from the desk, and a candy bar on his desk, with a sigh. "Oh thank god!" He gets up and immediately trips over his chair. "Ugh!"

Danny turns off the armor and goes to his old man. "Maybe one step at a time."

Freakshow looks around, sitting back in the chair. His eyes refocus back on the Fenton Family, before cockily asking, "Anytime you may want to tell me about the elephant in space?"

"That's a weird expression."

Elsewhere…

Up in space, a ghost elephant floats by a satellite.

Back to Action…

"Gladly!" As Jack gets up to his feet, he grabs hold of Freakshow's collar. "You're gonna help us remake that gauntlet!"

"… huh?"

"That's not what he asked," Jazz replies, the rings passing by and turning her into a human. "A month ago, we got attacked by those Heretic things. They beat us up, kidnapped our mom, and stole Danny's powers."

"Oh?" The bald carny turns an eye to the former ghost hero, grinning. "So right now, you're as human as I am?"

"I can still kick your ass!"

"Danny, language!" replies his father.

Freakshow turns back to the girl. "And, what happened after?"

The girl turns around to the window, staring at the violet outline up in the sky. "Those white idiots put a dome over the entire town. It's trapped us, those red roots, and those monsters inside. We can't get out, nor can we call for help. We've lost our home too." She glances at the smoke cloud over in the distance.

"Oh, I see…" The clues start collecting together. "So where do I come in?"

"We need you to make another Infinity Gauntlet." This is Danny.

"Uh, huh…" Freakshow nods. "Sorry, can't help you."

"What?!"

"You think I can just whip up a gauntlet capable of bending reality to its whim just that easily? Also, it's Reality Gauntlet."

"Reality?"

"It's called the Reality Gauntlet."

"What did I say?"

"Infinity."

"What is that? What even is that?"

"Anyway, you're wasting your time getting me to rebuild it. Do you know the kind of materials you need to make such a masterpiece? There was a time where no one thought it could be built in the first place because the equations used to make the damn thing were so complex that half the people who worked on it wound up in the insane asylum!"

"Which is just where your father's been for the last years of his life." Jazz remarks.

"How'd you know that?" At this moment, the door opens up and in steps Jazz and Tucker. The former holds up the book written by Frederick Isak Showenhower. "… I love your choice in authors."

"Listen, Cirque du So Loser," says Tucker with a glare, "we don't have a lot of options, so just make it for us."

"Were you not listening to what I just said?" Cockily, Freakshow waves him away. "Even if I could make it, we need the parts capable of resisting the gems. And speaking of which, we're missing the gems!"

Danny digs into his back pocket and holds out a Fenton Thermos. He opens it up, and reveals the three Reality Gems. "… you still kept those? I figured you'd destroy them!"

"I didn't think I could," he replies, putting the item away. "I had a feeling we might need them, and instead of letting some jerk hold them I'd rather just hide them."

"We still need the power source! I only had one earring!"

"That's right…" Jazz looks to her brother. "What happened to that one?"

An unpleasant scowl stretches across his face as the former half-ghost explains himself to his spectral sister. "It was on the gauntlet when Zalam fled. He probably still has it."

"Well then we have THREE problems," Freakshow tells them. "1, gaining the materials to build the gauntlet. 2, building the damn gauntlet. And 3, getting a proper power source! If any of those three are wrong, it either won't work or the backlash of energy is going to burn your arm off."

That's good to know. Though as Danny puts it together, he realizes this might be a bad idea even though it's the only one they have. It's highly unlikely the parts to make it are even IN Amity Park, which is being contained in a box. They've barely managed to survive a day against these things so time isn't on their side. And even if they manage to build the gauntlet, they need that triangle piece. "It'd be much easier to take the one Zalam has. But, we haven't seen him nor Desiree since this all started."

"It's half and half," Sam speaks, side-glancing to her crush at the mention of the black beauty with eyes gaining a viridescent shade.

"And you came to me for help…" Freakshow grins as he gloats, chin to his fingers as they look to him. "Man, your situation is desperate."

As the Fentons contemplate their options, elsewhere outside of the city one can find three warriors have gathered at the barrier. Two of these metal heroes are Vector and Hygro in their crimson and gray glory. The blue warrior passes by the two and approaches the African-American GiW, who hands him a chip.

He inserts the device into his arm, data passing through the lenses on his helmet. "I see. An effective plan indeed."

"Thank you, sir." The GiW bows to the sheriff.

Vector approaches the blue warrior, asking, "What is the plan?"

"Do not worry, Vector," he speaks. "We won't need to keep the people trapped here anymore."

She sighs with relief. "Because we're going to send it to another world."

Now comes the snap. "What!?"

"Is that even possible?" asks Hygro with shock.

"It's technology duplicating what the Ghost King did." The blue warrior faces the box with a scowl. "We're going to use the dimension traversal technology used to travel to the Ghost Zone to dump this entire space into the Ghost Zone."

"What?!"

"This town is home to more of this ghost crap than any other city in the planet because the dimensional barrier keeping this world from the Ghost Zone is weak here. That's why none of those tentacles have appeared anywhere else in the world. Once we get rid of this town, that will finally put an end to the supernatural nonsense this damn place brings!" The warrior walks off.

"But, there are still people in here! What of-" A mounted rifle rises from the sheriff's left arm and aims at her. The ghost hunter backs up in fear.

"That's what I thought. We'll start the operation tomorrow; by this time in two days, no more ghosts!" His weapon retreats into his armor, and he walks away.

Distraught by what this will wreak, Vector removes her helmet and stares at the box dome in front of her. "Danny…"

…

She shifts in her sleep, moving with a weak groan while rising. Eyelids widen slowly, adjusting to the brimming light before her. Her midnight hair brushes away from her face as she stares at the white room she is in.

The door opens up, causing her to shirk back at the head of the white bed she's on top of. Her expression turns from fearful to shocked and then anger when she recognizes who it is. "Zalam!"

"Yo," speaks the black swordsman as he comes in holding a tray of pancakes. "Hope you enjoyed your month-long nap. How do you feel?"

A knife is flung at him, which he dodges easily by dipping to the left. It impales into the door behind him, also white. With a laugh, he states, "That's about right. But don't bother leaving; no one leaves the Shadow Room without my power."

"Why have you… wait, a month?!" A nod as confirmation causes her to jump up in shock. She's been trapped in here with this guy for a month?! "Where's Danny?!"

"Alright, just calm down. I'll explain." He places the tray in front of her. "Now, eat up and pay attention. Once I'm done, I need you to explain some stuff to me."

* * *

Yusei: Yawn. Anyway, next chapter we will showcase a little backstory involving our dear, former Genie.


	6. The Sixth Darkness

_Holy Phantom, Featuring Danny and Jazzy Phantom_

Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom.

Yusei: Sorry about the wait.

 ** _The Sixth Darkness: Qasida_**

* * *

Desiree grabs food and begins stuffing her mouth until she cannot anymore. Zalam leans back in his seat with a sigh. "How do I go about with this… well, for starters, Karas is awakened."

The ebony beauty ceases her flagrant devouring to focus on him. "Karas?"

"The Heretic Overlord, basically the reason we exist in the first place." He flaps his hand aside. "He lives in the Never World, or, he IS the Never World. He's a monster who seeks to destroy the path of reincarnation souls go through and control all life."

She drops her fork at that. "But… to do that, he would have to-"

"Merge the Cosmic World with the Never World, yes," he replies, his eyes lowering in ill-content. "That's what he's doing now, using the World Tree known as the Quolith."

Horror spreads across every nook and cranny of her face. Such an event would be disastrous; an eternity of subjugation to monsters that should not exist at all, monsters whose only weakness would be extinct the moment this Armageddon happens.

Shivering in her seat at what may be, she asks, "But why now?! Why wait until this moment?!"

"He's been dead until last month, slain by the Doomsickle millennia ago. But because of that mistake, he ended up coming back. See, I was trying to use the Soul Pen to rewrite my fate and turn back into a demon, but then Ralina read my memories and foiled me before I could go through with the plan. That damn bitch then forced me to run with you, and they rewrote his fate."

Like a possessed woman, Desiree stands up. The pieces start to fall into place for how this disaster came to be. Unable to contain her anger, she screams, "SO IT'S YOUR FAULT!"

"…yes." Almost immediately following this conclusion, a fork jabs directly into Zalam's eye, causing him to fly up jumping in pain. "ARGH!"

Desiree wields a knife that came with the meal. "You caused this. You brought this all on everyone, for your own selfishness! And now you're hiding so you don't have to take responsibility!"

The demon swordsman removes the fork, his eye now closed with black ooze dripping from the vein. "Ugh. That's gonna take a while to grow back…" Glaring at the beautiful dancer with his good eye, the Heretic God of Darkness hops back onto his seat. "To answer, I'm not hiding from my responsibility. I still got a contingency." He digs into his back cloak and pulls out the Reality Gauntlet. It retains the damage from Danny's strike and the stone that powers it.

"The Reality Gauntlet?"

"Don't be so surprised that I kept it," he replies. A grin forms as he explains: "It's damaged, but the power of the gauntlet with all three gems and the combination may just be enough to handle Karas at his full strength."

Desiree claps her hands together with understanding. The gauntlet can control reality like a toy; it loosened the pathways allowing the other Heretics to break free into the real world, so maybe it can handle this cosmic being. Hopefully, Danny still has the gems so she can use it accordingly.

But before she could continue with this hope, a thought reaches her mind. To quell this curious cat, she asks, "So you had it when you stole it from Freakshow, right? Why did you have to go through this complication? Why not just use the gauntlet to turn back into a demon?"

"That's not how this works," he tells her. "Otherwise, I wouldn't have bothered to seal the Soul Pen inside of you."

At that, another question enters the former genie's heart. "That's also something I wanted to ask about; why did you put the pen inside of me?" Zalam's eye turns back to her, allowing her to continue. "You turned me human, but there must be a reason for it. Out of everyone, you chose me."

It's a question he has been expecting and is glad she's finally stopped beating around the bush about it. Though now would be a good time to get his answer. "All pens need ink to write stuff down. The Soul Pen's ink comes from ectoplasm, mostly human blood, otherwise, it won't work."

The knife is pointed just inches from his other eye. Desiree gives this ghastly glare like she was still a ghost. "You mean you plan on killing me for your ends?"

His finger pushes the knife down slightly. "If that was correct, you would have died from Karas' rebirth. I picked you for a specific reason."

Her knife lowers from his narrow sight. The confused beauty asks, "Why me then?"

"That's a question you have to answer." Zalam digs into his cloak again. "When I used the gauntlet to put it inside you, I noticed something about your composition and saw some things from your mind. So how about telling me about yourself?"

He takes out a golden shard, one to which she asks, "What is that?"

"A piece of the Melibur left from its destruction." He then takes her hand and cups it with his, the shard in between them. A crimson shine seeps from the creases, as well as Desiree's eyes.

'What… what's happening?'

"Time to see into your past."

Flashback…

 _"Bring her over." A young girl around the age of a teenager walks forward in a stumble. Her form illuminates in the orange twilight of the Arabian Desert. Her long midnight hair glitters, her ebony skin stands out for all to see despite her skimpy clothing, her crystal blue eyes sparkle with the clarity of a diamond; this is Desiree._

 _She prostrates herself before the royalty seated before her. He approaches the girl providing him respect, and places a hand on her silk black hair. The Arabian king speaks, "You're such a beautiful woman -" Another word follows, but it's muted out. "Your dancing is so much more fluid, exotic, passionate than the others. It's almost as if you trained for this your whole life. From this day forward, I want you at my side."_

 _He then raises the girl's head by her chin, looking within her eyes filled by surprise. "Your majesty?"_

 _"But, to call you … would besmirch yourself so much. So from here on, you will be given a proper name, one that will be remembered for years to come." His hand is pulled away and she straightens upright. The sultan smiles, saying, "I have high hopes for you, Desiree."_

 _As the scene plays out, the adult Desiree and Zalam stand together watching the past, untouched by what has already come to pass. The two remain silent as the now christened Desiree moves closer to the Sultan's side, despite the other girls watching with spite._

 _"You did well for a girl."_

 _"What's that?!" she gripes._

 _"What? It's how things were back then."_

 _"That's what angers me most."_

 _"But let's move forward." Zalam swipes across the air like an iPad, pushing time to go forward. Here, the two are in the hallway where the younger Desiree can be seen._

 _She walks by three other women, all beautiful despite being her senior. One grabs hold of Desiree and pulls back, her teeth bearing with anger. "You've done well for yourself."_

 _"Let go of me," she speaks, trying to pry free of her surprising vice-grip. "The Sultan asked for me."_

 _"Seems that's all you do." The woman's grip becomes tighter. "We were here before you, and all of a sudden he gets giddy for some young cunt like yourself! You disgusting eyesore!"_

 _"I said let go!" she yells, now more desperate. The woman throws her to the floor, Desiree hitting the floor hard with a yelp._

 _"But I must admit you are beautiful." The woman stretches her fingers, exposing sharp nails. "Be a shame if something were to happen."_

 _"What's going on here?" The three ladies stop in their tracks as Desiree breathes a grateful sigh of relief. There stands the Sultan with two of his guards, staring at the incident before him with medium disgust._

 _"Oh, your majesty!" The adult women correct themselves facing the ruler of the land. He looks not too pleased._

 _"I'm appalled by you three. Guards…" He approaches the worried Desiree while his men forcibly escort the dancers out of the palace. "Are you alright?"_

 _"Y-Yes," speaks the younger girl looking up to him with a faint redness across her cheeks._

 _The real Desiree watching smiles at the pleasant memory. "Oh, master… I never forgot about you."_

 _"And skipping ahead." Zalam swipes across the air._

 _"Hey!"_

 _The scene speeds up, causing the characters to move quicker. Though as they do, the two spot a much older woman down the hall secretly watching everything with spiteful eyes. Seeing her, the dark Heretic asks, "Who was she?"_

 _"You'll see." The scene progresses further ahead, showing a slightly older Desiree standing by a terrace looking out to the world below from within her room._

 _While giving a wave to the people who may or may not have seen her, she sighs with content. "A kingdom to myself… I've always wanted this…"_

 _Before she could enjoy this further, the doors rudely burst open without warning. The Sultan's guards come through the passageway and approach Desiree before immediately drawing their scimitars. Each one is placed right before the woman, held just enough to be threatening._

 _Confused doesn't even begin to cover her emotions at the moment. She asks, "What is the meaning of this!?"_

 _"Desiree, you are under arrest by the authority of the Sultan," the left guard tells her._

 _"On what charge?" she demands._

 _"We have a whistle-blower who believes you may have plans to usurp the position of Sultan from the… the Sultan," speaks the right guard._

 _"Did he have a name?" asks Zalam with a frown._

 _"This is ridiculous!" shouts the framed woman, her counterpart watching mouthing everything word for word._

 _As the darkness Heretic mutters at being ignored, the majesty and a woman in white step into the room. Seeing him, a sense of peace enters her heart before she says, "Your majesty, please get them to lower their weapons! This is all just a misunderstanding!"_

 _"Is it?" are the only words to exit his mouth._

 _The woman approaches Desiree, her no iris blue eyes going up and down the harem woman with the greenest of visions possible. "I'm a simple woman. I don't mind when my husband pays attention to a harem girl. But when that girl, that bitch, plots to secretly murder my husband…"_

 _In a snap of an instance, the imprint of a hand burns across the ebony skin of Desiree's left cheek. So powerful she's on her knees holding the painful spot. "That destroys any measure of hospitality I have."_

 _"No, this isn't… I would never betray him!"_

 _"No?" Pulling the sleeve of her clothes up, the wife goes to her bed, digging underneath the pillow to remove a knife. This knife that could easily be hidden on the person of even a scantily clad woman is held before all to view. Those scimitars that were held in restraint now stretch to be poised to kill._

 _Desiree panics at the sight. "No… that's not-"_

 _"Now, you said you were loyal to the Sultan," speaks the wife while holding the knife, with a certain amount of expertise. "Your connections gave you access to a private room and high standings, so you have no need for a weapon as a means of protection. So, why do you possess a knife?"_

 _Stuttering with defeat, Desiree is lifted by the guards and pulled before the ruler of the land. Her eyes water hard enough to ruin her eyeliner. "Wait, please! You have to believe me!"_

 _All feeling of hope dies away when his face turns away from hers. The woman's heart shatters when she understands the hidden meaning behind it all. "Through the authority bested by Allah, I sentence you to banishment."_

 _"But…" Without another word, the guards bring Desiree forward across the room._

 _The wife watches as her husband relents watching the woman get taken away. A dark grin musters across her face. "I guess I finally got my desire."_

 _The real Desiree grips her fists in an intense livid motion having relived the events before her. How much this has destroyed her, how much she hated that woman, how much she wanted revenge._

 _Zalam, having watched it all, is approached by Desiree. "Are you done?! Have you seen enough of my memories?!"_

 _"So if I'm reading this correctly," he begins, ignoring her pleas, "she convinced him to kick you out because she was jealous, and the whole thing about the knife was just an excuse."_

 _"If you can tell, why to bother asking about it?!" she shouts._

 _"Oh, I just wanted to see this next part." Zalam swipes the air again, and soon the scene changes._

 _Desiree, now older at the edge of thirty, can be found wandering the desert into the night. Her body drier, hair a mess, the light that was once in her eyes gone, this woman is officially a shadow of her former self. The poor woman drops down into the cooled sand, her tattered cloak blowing away into the wind._

 _Zalam watches before turning to Desiree, the female asking, "Why did you want to see this part?"_

 _"Isn't this when you become a ghost? No, when you become a Djinn?" Teeth expose in a grin as he speaks._

 _"… how do you know that?" He snaps his fingers pointing at the scene._

 _Desiree in the memories grasps at the sharp grains. Her eyes drain of color and vision as she lies broken. All on her mind is what happened to her. She is just ready to give up._

 _"Oh, what a sad scene…" She looks up once more at the voice spoken to her. Her eyes take note of the person before her, a man cloaked in darkness. His figure masked in the night, all she could tell about him are the red slits where his head is._

 _He takes a knee to her looking down at her homely stature. "You have been met with a terrible fortune, have you not? Do you wish for something?"_

 _"Please…" is the only measly word that she could muster out of her throat. "I just… some water…"_

 _"Impossible." The man pats her head with a scowl. "I cannot give you sustenance. Instead, how about I provide fulfillment?" His scaly fingers brush through her hair. "What do you want now more than anything?"_

 _"Water…"_

 _"Besides that!" His eyes burn brighter. "What is it you want to be done that you can't do yourself? What do you want in the depths of your soul?!"_

 _At that, her gears start to turn. Thinking back on it, there is one thing she desires too. Each time it passes her mind all she can feel is the hatred it builds in her. Raising her head she proudly declares it._

 _"I want revenge!"_

 _"Wish it!"_

 _"I wish…" Dark fumes form over her body. What used to be diamond clarity eyes have become crimson orbs of hatred. "For revenge!"_

 _The darkness coming from her body seeps further in before exploding upward. Mr shadow man grins as he pushes it further into her heart. "You'll make an interesting Djinn, much better than the others."_

 _Desiree's body then drops down, finally lifeless. The man laughs under his breath._

 _The real Desiree turns over to Zalam. "Why did you want to see this?"_

 _"Because..."_ The dark user raises the shard, returning both of them to reality. "Have you not figured it out?"

"... are you..." It slowly hits her. "Are you saying that because of what that man did to me, I ended up possessing the power to survive the Soul Pen?"

"Exactly! Whatever that guy did to you, it made you more than a human before your death. Why else would your abilities as a ghost be so powerful when you're just the spirit of a human?" He grins before dropping the shard onto the table. "Then again, you used your powers as a genie for evil, which is probably why it got so powerful."

Desiree looks down at the shard. "But, why was I? I never saw him after that. I couldn't remember my real name afterward either."

"Don't worry about it. Right now we need to remeet Danny Phantom."

"We do?"

"You do." He tosses the gauntlet over in her arms. "Better hurry. He doesn't stand a chance against them things without his powers."

"Wait, what?!" Stretching his arm, Zalam sends a wave of darkness behind Desiree. A hole opens up and pulls her in quickly, a slight yelp followed after. The hole then closes up.

Sighing, Zalam draws his sword from behind. "Good thing she didn't notice."

* * *

Kei: Wait, that's it?

Yusei: No, there's more to her origin. We just had to cut short for-

Kei: No, I mean for the chapter itself. We couldn't get this out for Halloween?!

Yusei: Maybe if you weren't busy with shacking up Izuku with Momo or fixing Emerald Lightning...

Kei: Oh, don't worry. EL is getting cut; Pokemon SWSH is coming out so we need the space, and there's no making that story good. But anyway, the next chapter will have Danny and Desiree finally reuniting. Things get a kick up as well.


End file.
